Attract views on your school videos

Help people watch you video

Creating engagement with your school videos is essential to making the whole process worthwhile. However it breaks my heart when I see videos that barely get a handful of views. Here are five tips any school can implement to ensure maximum exposure for their school videos.

1. Timing
Often school videos relate to a specific event or announcement. Some of the great success we’ve had with videos we’ve produced for schools is when we film and upload them online on the same day. The video is fresh and relevant. The engagement is high and the video is shared. Of course this can only happen when you have systems in place, music and graphics pre-prepared and the necessary people on standby ready to sign off and upload the video when it’s ready.

2. Plenty of faces
The more faces you can show of the students and community the more chance your production will be watched and shared. You’ll need to make sure you address the privacy issues and avoid including anyone who has indicated they are not to be filmed, but that leaves a huge 98% of the community. And of course if you are posting it on Facebook tag as many of the key influencers as possible so it can be shared quickly.

3. Fun & quirky
If your video is showcasing some of the life of the school then have fun with it. The students tend to find ways to enjoy themselves at school and hopefully the parents will be pleased to see that. Show them having fun, show some personality in the production and you will get more engagement.

4. Know your audience
Not all videos are suitable for all people. If it is a highlights video of a Year 7 camp then only the families of the Year 7 students are likely to be interested. So they are your audience. Target them specifically and that’s where you will attract the engagement. You don’t need to engage the rest of the school and nor should you try to. The more targeted your strategy the more relevant engagement you will have.

5. Distribute strategically
Have a plan on how you will share the video before the video is produced. What platforms will you be using, when will you be sharing it, how often will you be re-sharing it, what channels or partners can you lean on to increase the viewing audience? By taking 5 – 10 minutes to think through these concepts you can end up with a successful campaign that hits the target.
Some of the platforms to use include:

YouTube or Vimeo

Hosting it on your Website

Sharing it on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat

Including the link in a specific email

Embedding it in the weekly newsletter

Add it to the email signature

Ask any key participants in the video to share with their network.

In busy world, the easier you can make it for your community to view your videos, the more they will engage with it and your institution. Sonic Sight helps produce engaging videos for schools to help them attract more enrolments, raise funds and engage their community.

We offer a three step approach based on Strategy, Production and Distribution to help ensure your videos resonate and are seen.

If you would like to discuss your video requirements please give me a call on 02 9888 1110.